Fortnite read-alikes

I found this fun display idea online at the Skinner Middle School Library website and related MinervaReads blog.  Fortnite is a big hit with our MS/ES students so we decided to copy their display idea.

Here's our new display:

And here's a close up of the books we have.  Unfortunately, we don't have all of them from the book list Skinner Middle School provided, but still a good selection!

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

A Newbery Honor Book
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
A Printz Honor Book
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award
An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction
Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner
An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017
A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017
A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017

An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.

Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

Why you should read this book:

• This book is out of my "comfort zone."  I normally am not drawn to books in verse. Push yourself out of your comfort zone
• It's on the YALSA Teen Top Ten List for this year.
• I wonder what this life would be like?
• A quote that stuck with me:

but if the blood

inside you is  on the inside

of someone else,

you never want to 

see it on the outside of 

them.

Find Long Way Down in our library at: REALISTIC F REY

Mitali Perkins Visit

Grades 4-8 attended a wonderful presentation with Mitali Perkins this morning.  We are thankful to the PTA for sponsoring a visit to the school.  Her presentation entitled Stories on the Fire Escape  was about growing up and writing "between cultures" and the power of stories to keep us balanced.  It was very relevant for our diverse student population.  Thank you Ms. Perkins for taking the time to visit us!
If you missed seeing Mitali Perkins today or want to learn more, see her again tomorrow at the Dhaka Lit Fest!

Being in Grade 7 was hard!

The first books...11 years apart!

Rickshaw Girl is becoming a movie and was published in Bangla today!

Thank you PTA for sponsoring the visit!

Dhaka Lit Fest

Don't forget to attend the Dhaka Lit Fest this weekend.  It is always a fun event and there is much to do for all ages.
You can see another presentation with our visiting author, Mitali Perkins, who will be speaking there after visiting us.  Also, our own Ms. Jahan will be interviewing some of the authors attending the Lit Fest.
It's free to attend but you must register ahead of time. Register and find the program at the link below.

https://www.dhakalitfest.com/index.html

OverDrive Sora

Try the new Sora reading app from OverDrive on your October break travels! 

The library offers thousands of eBooks and audiobooks through OverDrive.  Download the Sora app on your device or access Sora online at: https://soraapp.com to see what books are available.

Our other link to OverDrive still works, but I think Sora provides a better student reading experience and syncs well across multiple devices.  Stop by the library if you need help using Sora.

Banned Books Week- it's here!

Middle School had many discussions this week about why books may be challenged.  Checkouts and holds of challenged materials soared, which always happens during Banned Books Week!

Our most requested hold this week...Thirteen Reasons Why.  Students were surprised to hear that the book is over 10 years old and the "movie factor" increased challenges of this book.

Find all the books below (and many more) in our libraries!

(ALA.org)

Summer Reading

SUMMER READING LISTS

Here are links to the summer reading lists.  You can also pick up printed copies of these lists in the library.  We are open from 10:00-2:00 for most of the summer.

ALSC Summer Reading List for Grades 6-8:

Young Adult Reading List (adapted from YALSA) 

Don't forget about summer reading bingo for middle school students! 

Get your BINGO card in the library.

HAVE A RELAXING SUMMER BREAK!

Summer Reading Bingo!

PTA is sponsoring Summer Reading BINGO for middle school students.  Complete the bingo board over the summer and win prizes!  Pick up your BINGO card in the library or download and print below.  Happy Summer Reading!

Prizes:

For 3 BINGOs (three lines): 

1 Chatime Drink

For 6 BINGOs (six lines): 

Pizza Party Invite

For Full BINGO card: 

Entry into a drawing for a $50 Gift Card from Amazon

Flying Lessons and other stories edited by Ellen Oh

Image from Amazon.com

This is a great collection of short stories  by very popular authors. All are diverse stories with a wide variety of characters facing many different personal struggles.  Most students will find a story in here that "speaks to them."
Short stories are often overlooked, but Flying Lessons and other stories is great choice because:
1. You can finish a story in one night.

AND

2. You may be inspired to read some of the longer novels by these authors.  We have works by them all in the library!

Try out Flying Lessons and other stories.  Find it on my recommendation shelf or at: SHORT F FLY

AudioBookSync

Get your free Audiobooks this summer (April 26-July 25) from AudioFile at www.audiobooksync.com  Two free audiobooks each week throughout summer for teens aged 13+.

You need the OverDrive App to listen to the audiobooks.  OverDrive is also the service we use for our school eBooks and audiobooks and we have over 1300 titles available.  Check some out this summer!

Her Stories

The creators of Her Stories are coming for a visit! 

"Told over the span of 1000 years, HerStories explores the lives of 21 outstanding women of Bengal and present day Bangladesh. Educationalists, poets, athletes, artists and activists, the heroines of HerStories are home-grown role models for future generations."

-Her Stories Website

See the newsletter or one of the librarians for visit details.  And, enjoy this Her Stories book trailer:

  

Stranger Than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer

 Stranger Than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer was my first spring break read and one of our new books to arrive in the mid-year library order. 

I am admitting my age, and lack of TV series knowledge, by saying I did not know Chris Colfer was an actor in Glee until I conducted a quick Google search about him.

I picked up this book because I  have a weakness for books about famous people and thought: "TV star on a road trip...sounds fun!"  Plus, it had just arrived in the mid-year order and I love new books.

Stranger Than Fanfiction was a fun book and the best part about it were following the storylines/lives of all five characters.  The stories of each character are a bit over-the-top but that is what makes it fun and also thought-provoking because I think all readers can find something relevant to their life in the life stories of the characters.

Try this book out for a fun read!

Find Stranger Than Fanfiction in our library at: REALISTIC F COL

Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling

Amazon.com

Drew grows up on a small farm, which I learned from Mr. Jobling was based off a fantasy version of the US.  (Previously, I had a European map in my mind!)
One evening he and his mother are attacked by a werecreature and for the first time, Drew changes and becomes a werewolf.  After running from home when his father returns and mistakenly believes he killed his mother, the first book in the series follows Drew's adventure through the kingdom as he discovers how to use his ability to transform and learns his rightful place as king of the werelords.  There are six books in the Wereworld series.  A great read!

Find the entire Wereworld series in our library at: FANTASY F JOB

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald

(Amazon.com)

Both my son and I recently finished Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald.  It was actually read several times in our house.  Once by my son, once by me after great reviews from him, and once as a read-aloud together.  This book left us both laughing about life in middle school as Charlie Joe Jackson tries to figure out how not to read anything...ever.  My son, who loves to read, liked the funny ideas on how to trick your parents into thinking you are reading.  He was concerned over the price of the bribe for getting Charlie's friend to read the book for him being raised to two ice creams.  My son read this book in a day and is now on to the second in the series.  I liked that this book was funny, easy to read, and high interest.  I will be recommending this book to other boys (and girls too!) in Grades 4-7.

Find Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading in our library at: HUMOR F GRE